How much are you earning per annum?

In an anonymous forum it is easy to just talk nonsense. There is no responsibility.
Better be safe than sorry.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Like that how to escape the rat race? Taking some risks is required to escape. Inaction due to disproportionate levels of fear of failure is what causes regret when you are old.

No job is 100% safe, so does that mean no one should step out of their comfort zone to make some investments and gve themselves a chance at financial freedom?

IMHO, as long as you do risk management, ensure you have buffers and control spending, it is better to go invest then stay still and just hope for the best. Life is what you fight for.

Agreed. Everybody is born equal - is it really?

Ah Huat and I were childhood friends from poor families in the same kampong over 50 years ago. Both our families are large, Ah Huat has 1 sibling more than I. We used to joke that our families could form two football teams with reserves!

Somehow, my siblings and I were more academically inclined than Ah Huat's. After 'O' levels, all of Ah Huat's siblings including Ah Huat went out to eke a living while my siblings and I went on to PreU (now JC) and Uni after that. Money was in short supply for us as we struggled to juggle studies and give tuition to pay our Uni fees. On the other hand Ah Huat and his siblings were bringing in the "bacon" for the family and they were pulling ahead.

While we were still studying, we were resettled to HDB flats. Ah Huat's family and my family ended up in the same estate and that's how we knew they were financially better off than us. Many of Ah Huat's older siblings were already working while my oldest brother and sister were in their Uni final years. My late father was the lone bread winner. Many times he would question the value of studying so much. He would often ask us to quickly go out and work saying that Ah Huat's parents could already sit back and relax (retire).

Once my older siblings graduated and started work, the tables were turned. We had our first family car while Ah Huat's family could not afford one. My older siblings married and went on to stay in condos and landed properties while Ah Huat and his siblings stayed in HDBs.

There was no looking back as one by one of my siblings including myself graduated and went into the workforce. Last time I bumped into Ah Huat, he was unemployed and trying out for a taxi license. He said he had drifted from job to job. Needless to say, he regretted he had not put more effort into his studies.

Life is what you make of it. Luck also plays an important part, but with hard work and diligence, good luck seems to follow.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Like that how to escape the rat race? Taking some risks is required to escape. Inaction due to disproportionate levels of fear of failure is what causes regret when you are old.

No job is 100% safe, so does that mean no one should step out of their comfort zone to make some investments and gve themselves a chance at financial freedom?

IMHO, as long as you do risk management, ensure you have buffers and control spending, it is better to go invest then stay still and just hope for the best. Life is what you fight for.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

My goodness, you are low income??? How about 80% of Singaporeans who are staying in HDB and cannot afford to buy a condo? What are they classified as? I think you are probably living in your own world?

gosh u read the tone of the post already know it's false modesty, u still fall for it?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

43 & 45 professional couple, $220k pa combined.
Lives in a big luxury condo, drives a luxury big car.
Expensive holidays, twice a year.
Spending includes paying condo mortgage, condo maintenance fees, car loan, income tax, insurance premium, kids' tuition, ballet and piano lessons, kids' allowances, parents' allowances and medical expenses, fine dining at high end restaurants, maid's salary and levy, holidays, etc, $180k pa in total.
Net worth, $2.2m.

Our retirement plan (at 60 years old) is to sell our big luxury condo and downgrade to a one bedroom condo next to an MRT station. By doing this, we will get cash for us to buy dividend stocks to get passive income. Our expenses will also go down since we live in a smaller condo and will not own a car any more. Since it is a small condo, we don't need a maid as my wife and I can easily do the housework. We can also just eat at coffee shops.

did u earn more previously?

i posted earlier. mid 30s and our combined income is 270kpa but we dont own a car, nor stay in a luxury condo. only 4 rm hdb flat. at most mid tier restaurants. no maid. 1 toddler, in laws, retired helping to care for him so we give them a sizeable stipend. we dont consider ourselves professionals.

still servicing hdb loan + household expenses. i think i get by and im building up my savings to buy another property, but im certainly not living the luxurious life you seem to enjoy. how did u pull it off?

Don't worry how he got to where he is. Just keep working and saving hard, you will be way ahead of him even before you hit mid 40.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

did u earn more previously?

i posted earlier. mid 30s and our combined income is 270kpa but we dont own a car, nor stay in a luxury condo. only 4 rm hdb flat. at most mid tier restaurants. no maid. 1 toddler, in laws, retired helping to care for him so we give them a sizeable stipend. we dont consider ourselves professionals.

still servicing hdb loan + household expenses. i think i get by and im building up my savings to buy another property, but im certainly not living the luxurious life you seem to enjoy. how did u pull it off?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

My goodness, you are low income??? How about 80% of Singaporeans who are staying in HDB and cannot afford to buy a condo? What are they classified as? I think you are probably living in your own world?

Pls reword the statement, not all the 80% cannot afford condo, many of the 80% see no need the so called "upgrade", HDB has been serving their life very well, most HDB are very clean, big and spacious, some are very prime location. My next door is family from France, they loved HDB as much I do.

Shame on you. Cannot stand on your own and bring in an Ang Moh to validate yourself. The so-called Frenchie probably would have chosen a condo or landed property to stay in if he could afford it.

Having said that, I love my HDB flat too. I do not need to say so and so is my neighbor.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Pls reword the statement, not all the 80% cannot afford condo, many of the 80% see no need the so called "upgrade", HDB has been serving their life very well, most HDB are very clean, big and spacious, some are very prime location. My next door is family from France, they loved HDB as much I do.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Agreed. Everybody is born equal - is it really?

Ah Huat and I were childhood friends from poor families in the same kampong over 50 years ago. Both our families are large, Ah Huat has 1 sibling more than I. We used to joke that our families could form two football teams with reserves!

Somehow, my siblings and I were more academically inclined than Ah Huat's. After 'O' levels, all of Ah Huat's siblings including Ah Huat went out to eke a living while my siblings and I went on to PreU (now JC) and Uni after that. Money was in short supply for us as we struggled to juggle studies and give tuition to pay our Uni fees. On the other hand Ah Huat and his siblings were bringing in the "bacon" for the family and they were pulling ahead.

While we were still studying, we were resettled to HDB flats. Ah Huat's family and my family ended up in the same estate and that's how we knew they were financially better off than us. Many of Ah Huat's older siblings were already working while my oldest brother and sister were in their Uni final years. My late father was the lone bread winner. Many times he would question the value of studying so much. He would often ask us to quickly go out and work saying that Ah Huat's parents could already sit back and relax (retire).

Once my older siblings graduated and started work, the tables were turned. We had our first family car while Ah Huat's family could not afford one. My older siblings married and went on to stay in condos and landed properties while Ah Huat and his siblings stayed in HDBs.

There was no looking back as one by one of my siblings including myself graduated and went into the workforce. Last time I bumped into Ah Huat, he was unemployed and trying out for a taxi license. He said he had drifted from job to job. Needless to say, he regretted he had not put more effort into his studies.

Life is what you make of it. Luck also plays an important part, but with hard work and diligence, good luck seems to follow.

Think you are on the wrong track. The earlier poster did not say dont study hard or dont work hard....he says at some saturation point at the right time, we should take some risks, to which I agree.

Net-worth 2.6M
Income 280k pa
Passive 40k
Spend 100k pa
Save 220k pa

43 / 45, combined income $191k pa.
Home is a condo, worth $1.1m, loan left $250k.
Car, paid up. Savings, $30k pa.
Total net worth, $1.4m (millionaire couple).

Main expenses include mortgage, food and utilities, chidlren's tuition, parents' allowances, insurance, maid, holidays, etc.

We are just middle income Singaporeans who are contented with what we have.

When we retire at 65, we will sell our condo and downgrade to a HDB studio flat for the elderly ($70k only) and use the cash balance to invest in blue chips to give us passive dividend income. We will also get our monthly income from CPF Life. This should be enough, and I don't have to drive a taxi.